The Bikers are Back in Town!

Bring on the loud pipes! The guttural rumble of a Harley Davidson motorcycle is often an acquired taste. For enthusiasts, the sound of a hundred bikes roaring through the streets of Belize City is all about the enjoyment that comes with the annual rally. Today, that distinct hum was heard up and down Cemetery Road where dozens of riders from across Central America and Mexico gathered at the Black Pearl Motorcycle Club. News Five’s Isani Cayetano followed the excitement.

Isani Cayetano, Reporting

This weekend, Belize City will be alive with the thunderous roar of motorbikes, as hundreds of riders are expected to converge on the Old Capital for the annual motorcycle rally. Already in its fourth year of existence, the gathering of bikers and other motorcycle enthusiasts has seen a considerable increase in attendance. Joining the fray are the Sugar City Ryders.

Wender Alamilla

Wender Alamilla, Vice President, Sugar City Ryders

“We are the club that recently started and it’s getting all the way to the top because we are international riders. As you can see we have the Mexican flags all over.”

Isani Cayetano

“Talk to us about the size of your club in terms of the members, the kinds of bikes that you guys are riding. Tell us a bit more about the Sugar City Ryders.”

Wender Alamilla

“Okay. Well acting members, right now we have eighteen members. The type of bikes, we have all types of bikes in any range. We have small bikes to the biggest bikes, eighteen hundred CCs bikes. I mean it’s pretty good.”

Isani Cayetano

“When did you decide that you wanted to become a rider and how did you fall in love with bikes?”

Wender Alamilla

“Well, from young I use to travel to Chetumal and see those big guys with big bikes coming and I was like, “yeah dudes!” I mean those things motivate me, you understand me and thanks to my family, my family is always pushing that if I love motorcycles, get into motorcycles. You understand me, that’s what I love, the background of my family, they always have been there.”

The founder of the initiative is Nigel Espat of Black Pearl Motorcycle Club.

Nigel Espat

Nigel Espat, Black Pearl Motorcycle Club

“We started the first rally in 2014. It was an attempt for us having participated in many other events throughout Mexico and Central America to try to emulate the same thing in Belize but try to make it a little bit different and add a little Belizean flavor to it and hopefully attract people both from Mexico and Central America . As we had noticed that whenever we attended a rally in Mexico for example, they’d be all Mexicans. We attended a rally in probably Honduras there is usually probably ninety percent of locals and maybe ten percent of other Central Americans. So we thought look, Belize is properly placed geographically to join the region together, Central America and Mexico.”

Benito Gutierrez is a seasoned rider presently on his eleventh motorcycle. He talks about the formation of the Sugar City Ryders and the subsequent brotherhood of bikers.

Benito Gutierrez

Benito Gutierrez, Member, Sugar City Ryders

“I’ve been through ten bikes already so eventually when the guys decided that they wanted to do a motorbike club I was encouraged. I went along, went along, looked around for guys who had bikes and said, “Guys we‘re going to try to do a motorcycle club. We did it and had an amount of guys get together and we decided on a club name so we decided on Sugar City Ryders. Sugar City because well we have the Sugar Factory in Orange Walk Town, so that‘s why we called it Sugar City. So far from 2015 when we established our club and up to today we are still here and we have eighteen strong, including family, including wives. It‘s been a club, it‘s a family club as well, not only just riders. It includes family, children, everybody, so when we have an event it actually brings in everybody. So what we do here, especially in Belize, whenever they invite us we support them because it is not easy to have a motorcycle club. A motorcycle is a little bit expensive to maintain. So amongst all our clubs we do what we got to do and we help each other and we keep strong.”

A concert is set for tonight at the Princess Poolside and other activities are scheduled for Saturday and Sunday in Belize City and Caye Caulker. Reporting for News Five, I am Isani Cayetano.

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